Democratic Florida House nominee Anna Eskamani‘s campaign announced Monday that her campaign and political committee now have topped $420,000 in fundraising, an astonishing total for a first-time candidate.

Yet her declaration comes amid indications that fundraising is coming alive for the campaign of her Republican opponent in House District 47, Stockton Reeves.

Eskamani’s announcement Monday includes campaign money collected since the totals reported last Friday in the latest official state campaign finance reports: her campaign now has raised $350,000, and her independent political committee People Power for Florida has topped $70,000, her campaign reported.

That comes from more than 2,000 individual donors, and Eskamani’s campaign declared that her official fund is averaging just $120 per contributor, indicating support from a large base of small donors.

However, she now also is getting big donations: Since the Sept. 14 fundraising deadline for last Friday’s newest reports, People Power for Florida cashed a $30,000 check from a Colorado organization called the Aldara Impact Fund, and another $1,600 from a Brooklyn, N.Y., organization called Flippable Florida Victory Fund.

Reeves actually did better than Eskamani in fundraising for the first two weeks of September, according to the latest official reports filed with the Florida Division of Elections.

Eskamani, a non-profit executive from Orlando, and Reeves, a businessman from Winter Park, are battling for the seat opening up in HD 47 because Republican incumbent Mike Miller is running for Congress. The district covers much of north and central Orange County.

In official records posted Friday by the Florida Division of Elections, Eskamani’s official campaign account reported raising $17,774 between the Aug. 31 report and the Sept. 14 reporting date, bringing its total raised for her campaign to $336,166, and leaving it with $207,792 heading toward the general election. People Power for Florida got only a $2,500 check from a Tampa lawyer before the Sept. 14 reporting date, giving it $39,251 raised, and $19,506 in the bank for the general election campaign.

That was a total of $20,274 she raised for her two funds in the two weeks through Sept. 14, through the latest official reports.

That is by far the largest month Reeves’ campaign has ever had, his first reporting period of more than $11,000 in donations, not including the $94,700 he has lent to his own campaign over the past 15 months.

Reeves’ latest outside donations included $3,000 from the Republican Party of Florida, 22 $1,000 checks from various political action committees, corporations, and firms, and another $1,000 check from lobbyist, developer and Republican former state Rep. Chris Dorworth.

With spending, Reeves’ campaign had $48,613 left in the bank on Sept. 15.

Eskamani’s campaign said she has several fundraising events planned, and with about six weeks to go and shows no signs of slowing down in her fundraising efforts.

“Our campaign offers a compelling vision for the people of House District 47 and for Floridians across the state,” Eskamani stated in a news release. “We want a world where everyone wins — where business owners, managers, entrepreneurs, and workers can live in harmony and each achieve the American dream. Where public schools are valued, the environment protected, gun violence reduced, and health care accessible to all. I am thrilled to have raised more than $420,000 in our bid to serve House District 47 and am honored that our donations include gifts from Democrats, Republicans, and from those with no major party affiliation.”

About The Author

Scott Powers is an Orlando-based political journalist with 30+ years’ experience, mostly at newspapers such as the Orlando Sentinel and the Columbus Dispatch. He covers local, state and federal politics and space news across much of Central Florida. His career earned numerous journalism awards for stories ranging from the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster to presidential elections to misplaced nuclear waste. He and his wife Connie have three grown children. Besides them, he’s into mystery and suspense books and movies, rock, blues, basketball, baseball, writing unpublished novels, and being amused. Email him at scott@floridapolitics.com.